all I wanna do ...

... is knit ... and read and post to ravelry forums ... and buy more yarn :-)

I'm working on:

1. Irtfa'a -- I still really love this yarn but it's much slower going on this, now that I've reached the right side quill edging, with its many many p2togtbls; the left side will be faster and hopefully more intuitive





2. goddessknits anniversary mystery shawl -- on row 89 of 104, more than halfway through (row-wise) clue #2 of 5, and there's enough of the wip to squeeze, even in its pre-bloom state, and the double decrease mini-motif has become second nature





3. fiery fuchsia Caricia -- this is my carry-along wip, so hasn't had much done on it the past several days, but the pattern seems soooo easy this time around





4. Oh! Canada -- 2/3 done but now this sits on the sofa, waiting for suitable TV viewing time





5. shadow tweed Petra -- just cast on yesterday and now need to organise the various front and back instructions that depend on either back length or number of front stitches or something else -- this is knitting up fast and feels remarkably luscious, considering the yarn is half acrylic, and that's actual gradation in the yarn colour, not shadow, in the pic:
   
   
   if there's still some at M&S when I get a chance to go back there, I'll try to find another colourway that I like

and there are still the three French Girl Knits wips and the two Tofutsies socks projects, mostly hibernating ...

other projects I want to start soon:

1. calorimetry, using the Noro Silk Garden
2. Thelonius sock, using the Needlefood espresso
3. tempest, using the posh lei bridesmaid
4. totally autumn, if I can find suitable yarn

and two posh batts will be arriving next week ... will I or won't I learn to spin?

America borders on the magnificent ...

Canada -- I wonder how long that tourism ad ran on US TV, back in the 80s ... but here is my wip, almost 15% done, and very smooshy (silk and camel sportweight):

$200 before breakfast

it's getting to be a habit, and not only on Mondays ... otoh it keeps me out of other mischief and greatly reduces my spending on other indulgences ... and I'm losing weight (good!) -- I wore the Chitra skirt that was so hard to zip up when I bought it, and tucked in my top (admittedly skin-tight), and it was perfectly comfortable -- I ate lunch and a donut and had cake and coffee a couple of hours later

snicklefritz yarns are decidedly dearer than posh, at $39+ each including postage ... but Janelle has included a freebie that sounds like yarn, in a colorway that I'll like

1000 Petals has more fibre than yarn, the yarns are only US$18, and she follows the Etsy convention of $7 postage for the first item +$2 for each additional item ... but I found only two colorways that I really-really wanted

I've swatched twice for the goddessknits anniversary shawl, on 3.5mm and 3mm -- the cashmere yarn feels like thick cotton thread but blooms after blocking into a soft light fabric, with much smaller holes than when I pinned it out; oddly, the 3mm swatch has holes the same size as the 3.5mm swatch -- it still felt a bit coarse, so I soaked it again, for longer

Oh Canada is knitting up quickly, and I almost have the pattern memorised, but Irtfa'a is languishing a bit, as I haven't had much knitting-at-home time ... although when I do work on it, the knitting seems to go faster now that I've moved it to the stainless steel Hiyahiya circs

goddessknits anniversary mystery shawl

another large lace project and – oh dear – it needs yet another yarn purchase :-)

I joined goddessknits’ anniversary mystery shawl group – it will be a huge Faroese and the "pattern" calls for 1900 yds of quite fine solid-color laceweight but the only stash I have that would suit is undyed cashmere-silk, which I don’t think would hold my interest for 1900 yds of knitting … so I shopped around and settled on some Purple Iris cashmere laceweight from Knitter's Addiction (arrived Tue 5 May) – very economical, only $56 including shipping -- for comparison, Mel's alpaca-silk for irtfa'a cost $55 and the cashmere has 50% more yardage (but Mel's yarn *is* custom handpainted)

Most of the other yarn options are either variegated or more expensive (and will take longer to arrive) or the online stores were too hard to browse and impossible to search, or as in the case of colourmart, I didn't see any of my colours. although I didn't look on southseas, as NZ$15 per shipment is a bit steep, esp when the actual postage is only $5-6 ... $9-10 for packaging and handling!?

I sent the link to Agnes and Jane, hoping they'll also join ... there are 28 Germans in the ravelry group (carried over from last year's KAL), almost as many as there are Brits

oh, and I bought another book of patterns -- Inspired to Knit -- and the VK quick reference (still waiting for these on Wed 6 May, with no reply to my emails to CanDoBooks)

both orders are from Australian companies (the books are from a shop in Brighton) so will hopefully arrive early next week

everything else has arrived, except the Hiyahiyas and Shibui yarns that I ordered from Loopy Ewe on Tue

yarn from Oregon

the two parcels from Oregon arrived late today, but no posh (from either Dee or Jacqui) and still no yarn from yarnandfiber

the 1800 meters of silk stardust from Knitty Noddy is extraordinary and will make a glorious circular shawl -- Firmaments or something similarly extravagant -- and will provide months of fabulous knitting!

the stardust seasilk from Colorsong looks completely different, but will be a very suitable colour for Trevi -- imagine dark blue chevrons on white mosaic or ceramic

and the mini maiden is soft and silky and this 100g skein is practically the same size as the 150g seasilk; it's intended for a proper-sized Caricia

enough?

seriously, I really should stop, or at least slow down a lot ... no more impulse buying until the wool show, and that goes for patterns, books, yarns, needles, and anything else related to knitting ... or spinning or felting or ...

posh? only ask Agnes to get me something if it's really amazing ...

and concentrate on getting through my queue -- there's enough there to keep me busy for a few (several?) years ... I should never need to buy another book ever again ... maybe at most one or two more [knitspot] patterns?

and oh yeah -- use the time not spent shopping to do some work!

stocking up for retirement?

not that I'm planning to retire anytime soon ... but at the rate I'm acquiring yarn and patterns, I'll still have lots of lovely knitting projects long after my yarn-buying income has stopped

on each of the past two Mondays I spent $150 or more on yarns and associated items ... and I think I bought some more in between, as well

so what am I expecting in the (parcel) post: ALL ARRIVED

- arr Wed 22 Apr: baltic sea stole and feathers shawl patterns from ebay
- arr Wed 22 Apr: harmony points and cable and fiberworks 2-ply merino sarsparilla from yarnsonline
- arr Fri 24 Apr: shipped Tue 21 Apr: sock yarns and hiyahiya 2.75mm bamboo circs from needlefood (NZ)

- arr Mon 27 Apr; shipped 20/21 Apr? handmaiden lace silk stardust from knitty noddy (OR) -- Firmaments or something equally spectacular?
- arr Mon 27 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr: seasilk stardust and mini maiden vintage from colorsong (OR) -- destined for Trevi and Caricia respectively

- arr Tue 28 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr: posh charlotte 4-ply cad (UK) -- Tiger Eyes, I think?
- arr Wed 29 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr? posh miranda merry from jammam's stash (UK) -- colours are similar to splendid but a bit muted, and the yarn is very fine ... perhaps I'll make In the Woods with it?
- arr Wed 29 Apr; shipped Fri 24 Apr: GGH DK silk burgundy from southseas (NZ) -- postage was NZD6.21 (quite a bit less than the 15 she charges!)

- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Tue 14 Apr (according to forum, yarnandfiber delivery time can be 2-3 weeks): Schaefer Andrea Indira and Mtn Colors Winter Lace red willow from yarnandfiber (NH)
- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Mon 27 Apr: Lantern Moon circs and natural-dyed cashmere from southseas (NZ) -- postage was NZD5.__
- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Mon 27 Apr? Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed from yayforyarns (QLD?)

and sooner or later ecoyarns will notify me of the Habu yarns that I ordered, back in Jan
- arr Mon 4 May; shipped Tue 28 Apr: Shibui sock yarns, Hiyahiya needles from theloopyewe (MO) -- $9 shipping, not $20 x 2 -- see actual payment collected via paypal

and I'm seriously considering ordering a lotus and/or peacock feather kit from fiddlesticks

and the GGH silk is intended for Annie Modesitt's lace corset pattern (although there doesn't appear to be enough of it?)

I need to spend more time knitting and less time shopping

otoh I think I'm spending less on other things that used to soak up my disposable income, esp eating out and ready-made clothes ... although I did spend the Challenger dividend on a lace vest from Chitra's -- something I couldn't fit into several months ago, I can actually button now and if I lose a bit more weight it will look quite good ... or I could wear a tight singlet under it, as a sort of sausage casing

more birds

I discovered a thread in the Posh Knitters forum, called Hansonalong, where people post about their knitspot FOs -- like other FO threads in this group, it doesn't matter whether you used Posh Yarn or not

so someone posted a photo of her Oh Canada scarf/shawl, which showed the pattern much more clearly than the pics of the one that was made to replace Kim's stolen shawl -- I'd assumed the pattern was just maple leaves but it's actually flying geese and cattails, and looks like it will be fun to knit (although the pattern calls for grafting the two halves together -- erk -- I might see if I can do an alternative version, with PCO and knitting out from the centre, although this would make the geese and cattails point the other way ... or I could do as some others did, and knit the whole thing in one direction, on the premise that one end will get flung back over a shoulder

the petite shawl size calls for 700 yds of sport wt: I could use either Helena Tosca (fingering wt) or Cambyx Victoria (sport wt) ... I think Tosca is too dark for the spirit of the pattern; Victoria is not ideal (I would prefer more greys and blues) but at least it's kind of a maple leaf colourway ... or I could buy some roses 'n' thyme from Catherine :-) -- maybe there are pink cattails?

mclaren vale cockatoo

I finished the shoulder shaping of this (my first) Faroese shawl, wrapped it around the corner of a cushion, and spritzed it. Later that night, I photographed it under lamp light:

and a closer-up:

This morning, I took more photos in natural light but they make the colours look brighter than they really are, for example:

btw these are all without flash ... so the colours are more realistic under lamplight (standard incandescent) than indirect daylight -- who would've thunk?

In the last photo, the irregularity in the neck edging can be seen, in the area of the left shoulder -- there's also less fabric in the left neck edging. The pink yarn is the waste yarn I used for the provisional cast on, which is still attached because it's knotted to a very small tail of working yarn ... must remember to leave a longer working yarn tail when I do PCOs :-(

still, I'm pleased with the way the pattern is showing up, and I love the colours in this yarn, and it's so soft and silky!

feeding my yarn habit

wonderful Agnes managed to snag one of these for me:

Lei, 4ply (sock weight) yarn, 65% merino / 20% bamboo / 15% silk. Each skein is 380 yards per 100g.

Name:
Midnight Feast

Colour Description:
Mulberry, black, navy, plum, crimson

Price per Skein:
£13.00

but 2 of these jumped out of her basket before she checked out:

Charlotte 4ply, sock weight 50% silk / 50% merino yarn. Each skein is 100g / 350 yards.

Name: Heathcliff

Colour Description: Black, silver, fuschia, plum, gold, charcoal

Price per Skein: £13.00

so after paying Dee for the midnight feast, I spent the next hour and a half hunting for consolation yarns at yarnandfiber (10% discount off MSRP and free shipping) -- got some silk lace and wool-silk lace:

• Schaefer Andrea Lace weight - Indira Gandhi - 100% silk 3.5oz 1093 yds
• Mountain Colors Winter Lace Yarn - Red Willow - 50% Wool, 50% Silk lace weight yarn ~100g ~1200 yds

so that's nearly $150 on yarn this morning and it's not yet 9am :-)

now back to my many wips, strewn across jh's side of the bed (he'll be back tonight from his Gippsland ride) and I really should do some work on my part of Wed's iphone dev workshop

a day for patterns

I joined in today's knitspot pattern buying spree after having a closer look at Fiore di melanzana (and probably feeling separation pains after finishing the knitting on palimpsest) -- irtfa'a calls for 1350 yds but I have only 1200 yds of chocolate chambord, and this is the right amount for the smaller version of melanzana

but I still want to start on irtfa'a soon, to contribute my incantations to Obama's efforts to mend relations with the Muslim world ... although I wonder about the symbolism of using a colourway based on a wine region ... or rather, on grapevines, which puts a better spin on it --after all, the middle east is the origin of some famous grape varieties (e.g., Shiraz and Muscat), which were probably used to make wine in pre-Mohammed times (eta: actually the colours are more delicate than in the Nepalese yarn, and could represent an exotic, or even mythical, bird)

but more about patterns: I arrived home to find another Amazon box near the door -- Knitted Lace of Estonia and Sock Innovation arrived only 2 days after Mother-Daughter Knits, having been shipped 14 days after M-DK -- so now I have all the major lace shawl and sock patterns that I'll ever need (not!)

very large finished object

yay! I finished palimpsest and bound off -- I will soak and block on Thursday ... jh will have left for Leon's Gippsland ride, so I can use his side of the bed and it won't matter if it takes more than a day to dry :-)

note: I should measure it before blocking

what shall I work on next? with several days at home coming up, I'll be able to make some progress on Viola and Satine, maybe Veronique and one or both socks, and perhaps cast on Ishbel and/or Irtfa'a ... or at least wind the skeins into balls, and practise some of Irtfa'a's lace patterns. I think it will be safe to work on both shawls, as Ishbel starts with a fair bit of stockinette, and then its lace pattern is not very complex ... Ishbel will be a suitable SnB project, too

I'll try to determine my ideal garment lengths (from Mother-Daughter Knits), or at least figure out where the lower edges of Viola and Satine should be on my body, e.g., 31.5" from the floor for Viola

and then there were three...

Posh Yarn skeins ... these two arrived today, to join the Charlotte 2-ply Splendid:

they're actually almost black, with small amounts of magenta and mulberry, and I think there's enough for another triangular shawl ... they have an odd smell, sort of like lapsang souchong

the parcel fairy cometh ...

bringing Sally Melville's Mother Daughter Knits (packaged much more carefully than Custom Knits, hence pristine!) and Woolen Rabbit's Whisper -- 1200 yds in each of pussywillow

and chocolate chambord

pussywillow looks darker than in its online store photos, but this is not necessarily a bad thing :-)

Sally and Caddy's book is more than patterns: I need to read the section on fit and style carefully before continuing with FGK garments, esp Viola, which is at the point where I planned to bind off the body, but might decide to lengthen, depending on what Sally says ...

ah, but there was no pink package of posh outside the door today ... hopefully tomorrow?

lightning strikes

we got some decent rain during the past hour ... it got too dark to knit so I took a shower ... it was the darkening before the main part of the thunderstorm, so I was standing under the shower, wondering whether I should dash downstairs to unplug the computers, decided it wasn't worth spraining/breaking an ankle to save them from a lightning strike ... then realised that I was standing under a shower, wet, with water on the floor, listening to a thunderstorm and watching the lightning flashes ... in a 2-storey metal structure that protrudes from the main house structure!

I rinsed quickly and dried myself *outside* the bathroom -- gazing out the window, I saw several lightning bolts hit [something near the] ground, within a couple of kilometres ... no smoke however

pink package!

my very first pink package from posh arrived yesterday!!!

but I didn't find it until this morning ... poor thing spent the night out on the verandah, probably feeling unwanted and unloved

I was at work all day and met jh for dinner so got home after dark; I'd asked jh whether this package had arrived and he said I'd received a flattish package from the UK ... but it wasn't pink (it was Ysolda's booklet, which is quite lovely and very welcome!)

I should have gone out to check the usual place where the parcel fairy leaves parcels but I just thought it would arrive the next day and went upstairs to knit ... so there it was when I left the house this morning! and here it is, finally photographed:

tosca

toscafull, originally uploaded by poshdee.

look what the posh yarn fairy got for me this morning! only 2 of these are mine:

Yarn Details:
Helena 4ply (sock weight) yarn, pure organic merino. Each skein is 360 yards per 100g.

Name:
Tosca

Colour Description:
Black, magenta, mulberry

Price per Skein:
£11.00

not enough knitting time!

I'm falling a bit behind in my schedule for palimpsest -- reached the halfway mark this morning instead of last night and am currently barely 1/3 through today's repeat ... and I need to go out soon to buy some protein for tonight's dinner -- probably snags from the supermarket, unless the butcher is really not busy

the chart keeper that jh made for me is helping (although not as effectively as Agnes' -- she's just speeding along with her projects!) but I need to figure out how to modify it so that I can use it while travelling on train/tram

meanwhile my queue just keeps getting longer, with my stash not far behind, and I think I will renege on my offer to knit Kim Hargreaves' Elizabeth for Clare -- maybe she'd like a nice lace scarf instead? or a Niobe in that Moda Vera Harmony that has too much brown in it for me?

and which of the exciting new yarns and patterns will I pick up when palimpsest is done (or even sooner)?

• irtfa'a, with Mel's alpaca-silk
• ishbel, with posh charlotte
• maplewing, with one of Kim's whispers
• boxleaf, with one of the Fleece Artist Cambyx
• tiger eye, with posh helena (if Agnes manages to get me a skein)

and there are so many other projects I could start, not to mention the wips I've been neglecting -- my excuse is that most are at or near the stage where I need to do some major structural adjustment, including both socks wips ... except Veronique, but I don't like the circ I'm using for the sleeve, and need to find/buy another, preferably sooner than when Morris and Sons opens in Collins St

and yesterday I ordered Cookie A's book as well as the Estonian Lace book with Miralda, and downloaded the Aeolian shawl pattern that has so many posh people so excited ...

knitting aids

Custom Knits arrived yesterday: most designs are a bit "young" but there are a few top-down set-in sleeve patterns I like -- Cameo, Slinky Ribs, Lettuce Coat ... Essential Tank is also a possibility, as well as Karma (top and/or skirt). But the most useful parts of the book are the sections on fit and modifying patterns.

Agnes mentioned in a forum post that she had received a knitting chart keeper, which would help her to knit faster (as fast as Nancy?) -- I had a look but Knitpicks doesn't ship outside the US, so I asked jh to make me one. Here is the first prototype:

It's an A4-sized metal sheet (from a would-be industrial shelf) glued to a piece of cardboard and slotted into a folded piece of cardboard. The magnets are cut from a council-recycling fridge magnet. Not (yet) portable but it does the job :-)

Then I found a forum thread about knitting faster, with a post from Aaron Lewis about knitting sheaths; a google search led to his blog, where he has videos of him using a knitting sheath. I'd read about these before, during my own gansey-knitting period, but I don't think they can be adapted to circs, which is mostly what I knit with now.

splendidfull

splendidfull, originally uploaded by poshdee.

AgnesTville, darling enabler extraordinaire, snaffled 1 skein of this for me in this morning's feeding frenzy (aka weekly Posh Yarn sale) -- it's Charlotte 2-ply Splendid and I plan to make Ysolda's Ishbel.

lace patterns

I think in future I will practise every lace pattern, using pale DK yarn and medium needles, long enough to understand it and to stop making mistakes -- only then will I cast on with the actual lace or fingering yarn.

With Palimpsest, it took almost 3 repeats, working steadily after restarting the piece, before I felt confident that I could "read" my knitting to remind myself of the next sub-pattern. Now, near the end of the 5th repeat, I even understand the sequence of the edging stitches :-)

I'm a little worried about the amount of yarn -- this first ball should do at least 7 repeats plus another 8 rows ... 23-24 g to do another 59 rows, i.e., 117 rows used 32-33 g -- so it looks like I've got plenty!

ETA Tue 24 Mar 2009: it was looking unlikely, as the ball of yarn dwindled, but I weighed it after 7 repeats and still had 9g -- the arithmetic said the next 8 rows should use less than 3g and, sure enough, I still have 7g left after doing the 8 rows.

yet more yarn

my cambyx from knitty noddy arrived a few minutes ago -- one skein of burgundy and two of victoria -- the two colourways are very similar -- victoria isn't even a less saturated version of burgundy ... if anything, the bronze hues are slightly deeper in victoria ... but the victoria insists on photographing much more blue than it is, while the burgundy's photo looks reasonable ... stranger still, victoria alongside burgundy photographs ok!?

these are intended for Anne Hanson's boxleaf shawl -- autumn leaves, if you will :-)

knit fast

I didn't eat anything yesterday, bar a handful of M&Ms, and I wasn't hungry then, or this morning -- I've been knitting ... and jh left yesterday morning to ride to his mother's farm and won't be back until later today

I did have brunch when I went out to buy more knitting needles, and I'm feeling a bit peckish now

I know it doesn't take much energy to sit and knit but that doesn't usually stop me from getting hungry and/or eating for the sake of eating

temptation and the low A$

I commented on AgnesTville's Caricia on her ravelry page, which started a short PM exchange where she mentioned that she'd just downloaded the new Boxleaf pattern ... I went looking and had to search the knitspot site to find Anne's 6 March posting (why don't her postings appear on ravelry right away!? she did two on Friday and they're still not on my ravelry friends page!) then scanned back to "discover" that this is the pattern for the shawl she made for her friend kris, a month ago -- another triangular shawl, but with an interesting top edge, and a distinct side edging (slightly different from the original) -- I'd been reading her posts about it but didn't recognise it in the brighter, variegated colorway.

Well, Anne had knit this version in a new Fleece Artist 70-30 silk-camel yarn, which is US$26.50 for 115g at Knitty Noddy but not listed on colorsong -- the closest match is Handmaiden camel spin, with exactly the same fibre composition, slightly finer gauge, but US$37.95 for 100g! (Anne's blog shows a mini boxleaf done in camel spin) I figured shipping from Knitty Noddy wouldn't cost $11 per skein (and KN caps postage at $20 for international, i.e., they don't use that really expensive $26-minimum method) so ordered 3 skeins of their Cambyx: 1 burgundy (that's all they had left) and 2 Victoria (appears to be a slightly muted version of burgundy?), enough for a mini Boxleaf in burgundy and a petite or tall version in Victoria (possibly for Ruth, esp if the colorway is really not suitable for me).

I was impressed by KN's registration page, which actually knows about the states of Australia! but then the shipping page didn't list any international options ... so I put a note in the order and emailed the owner after paying for the yarn ... Evelyn just emailed, saying she'll send me a paypal invoice for this order, and set up an alternate ship-to (same as mailing) to get around the bug for future orders. ETA: US$10.30 for 1st Class International mail, which I paid via paypal -- paypal charges 2.5% above the exchange rate, and then Visa adds another 2.5% :-(

and of course, having spent $120+ on yarn, it was silly to continue waiting for a better exchange rate before buying Anne's patterns -- I got Irtfa'a (faved 28 days ago!) as well as Boxleaf.

socks or shawl?

400 yds of fingering can make either a pair of socks or a small triangular shawl

plans for June and July

Mid-July: jh and I have been to the Bendigo wool show every other year or so -- we take the train on Sat morning, mooch around for the rest of the day (last time, we had to spend some time finding another place to stay, because the hostel manager had lost our booking), then go to the show on Sunday and return to Melbourne on Sunday night. This year, jh has to work on Sunday, so I'm making plans to go on my own -- just a day trip on Saturday: take the 8.15 to Bendigo, arriving 10.18, then catch bus #5 to the showground (much farther out than the one that Google Maps identifies as the Prince of Wales showground), spend several hours and even more $$ buying yarn, socks and other goodies, then back to Melbourne on the 5 or 6 something train. There's no reason jh couldn't do the same but probably better that he doesn't -- I won't be able to buy more than I can carry :-)

June-July? Oy-lene and her husband will be living in Spain from mid-May to mid-August -- something about having the airfare for specific dates, therefore locked in -- and will be doing house-exchanges in Malaga and elsewhere ... but Malaga is the longest arrangement, and the house is big enough to me to visit. I've asked Atish about possible conferences we might attend, in order to write off some of the airfare. If this looks like a go-er, I'll have to find out about special yarns to buy in Spain. jh isn't interested in going but Clare might be ...

300,000 ravellers?

it looks like Ravelry will hit 300,000 registered users sometime today ... at 4:28 pm there were 299,976 and the number increases by 1 every couple of minutes, so we should be there by about 5:15 pm :-)

ETA: raveler #300,000 came online at 5:03 pm :-)

no-graft Caricia?

in the Caricia thread of the knitspots forum, some knitters are still leery of the 5-stitch graft that's called for in the pattern instructions -- I have an idea that it could be eliminated by doing a provisional cast-on of 6 stitches then knitting both sides of the PCO, with 3 purl stitches in the 6th cast-on stitch ... probably using magic-loop or dpns for several rounds

Heartfelt

international shipping is quite fast these days -- I ordered Kim Hargreaves' Heartfelt from her UK web site on the afternoon of 17 Feb and it arrived this morning, very nicely protected by corrugated cardboard, inside a padded airmail envelope ... very nice photos (more than on the web site) of the clothes ... now I just have to finish some wips before I cast on for ... um, Darcy? or Storm, or Cherish?

there are just two more books yet to ship from Amazon (Sally Melville's newest, and Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits) and the Habu order from ecoyarns (I think they placed their order yesterday -- lousy exchange rate but hopefully improving by the time they're charged?) -- then I need to get to work and knit my way through some of this stash ... and plan what I'll wear to the Bendigo Wool Show in July (darn! what if that's when Oy-Lene and Lane will be in Spain?)

wips

I have quite a few works in progress, not even counting the pre-ravelry ones, and several more that I want to "start", if only to see whether the yarn matches the pattern.

My current favourite -- the one I feel most compelled to pick up -- is this Nepalese Caricia: mainly because of the colours and the way the purple/rose tints emerge in the pattern, and because percentage-done increases rapidly after the first 4 or 5 repeats. After 3 repeats, I patted it with water and pinned it out to dry overnight, and it's very true that blocked lace provides enormous motivation to keep working on what would otherwise look like a lumpy blob. I'll try this with the Parisienne scarf, which has been hibernating for so long.

But first, I should block what I have of Palimpsest, to renew my enthusiasm for this intriguing pattern.

Then there are all the French Girl Knits wips and queued patterns:

1. Veronique: lower part done; upper part slowly growing to match
2. Viola: main body nearly done -- at the stage where it needs frequent try-ons to make sure it doesn't get too long
3. Satine: frogged back to row 3 to fix a missed k2tog in row 5, and now back to where I was; this is a lovely smooshy piece but the 9mm needles are a blessing and a curse -- wonderful that they make the fabric grow so fast but unwieldy all the same

And there are two Tofutsies socks on the go:

1. Bandstand: pre-Caricia, sock #2 was being carried around for train/tram knitting -- it's about halfway to the heel
2. Blackberry: sock #1 is at the heel stage, hence staying at home near its pattern sheet

And I'm resisting the urge to swatch or cast on:

1. Stella: actually, I have started a sleeve with Soft Haze stranded with Studio but it's too thick and I'm thinking of trying the Soft Haze on its own
2. Louisa or Niobe, with Harmony
3. Swallowtail, with strandedinoz's Queen Anne's Garden mohair
4. everything else that I have yarn and patterns for

I'm wondering about repurposing the Tiger Eyes lace pattern in a tunic, perhaps based on Satine or Louisa.

And semester starts next week, and I'm not really ready :-(

more yarn

but not Cleckheaton Kaleidoscope, because my local Spotlight doesn't rate :-( 

... and I was all set to try this for Stella ... I settled for a combo of soft haze (ultra cheap) and multi coloured studio ($8/160m for 50% acrylic!) and also picked up 600m of vera moda harmony at $4/75m for either Louisa or Niobe, although it's not quite the right weight for either -- for Niobe I could shorten the sleeves to 3/4 and double the yarn only for the stockinette stitch in the body; Louisa is all lace so I might get away with it as is 

The yarns for Stella came to $76, minus $30 of the discount, so pretty cheap. And the harmony was $32 minus the remaining $10 discount, and there's plenty more at the store if I need it

Christmas in February!

The yayforyarn yarns came tied up with a Jo Sharp sample and a handwritten note from Kiri, who had read my post to the Spiraluscious thread -- really nice extras that you don't get from big businesses!

And Mel tied her skeins together and strung the Nepalese balls on a cord ... and added a sample of some multicoloured soy DK

I really should stop soon

Yet more yarn arrived today -- strandedinoz's alpaca silk and Nepalese laceweight, and the Kaalund and Araucania from yayforyarn.

The lavender silk could be just the thing for the Viola frills

One last yarn buying trip, to CCCK, to get some Rowans or Patons or Cleckheaton, to make something from Kim Hargreaves' book

And pick up another ball of KSA from Clegs for Satine? no, I've just started the 4th ball and I think I've knitted more than half the stitches (esp as this will be much shorter than the pattern specifies), so I already have enough to make both Viola and Satine

keeping the knitting economy going ...

I feel guilty blogging about all this yarn I'm buying from everywhere but CCCK, esp as Andrea is my one and only follower :-) ... when I went there for the first time, I was all set to go on a stash diet, so only stroked the lovely yarns in her shop, and only bought some buttons and a pair of knitting needles.

Now that I've decided that stash diets are "not my style" I went looking for suitable patterns for some of the Rowan yarns that Andrea stocks, and found Kim Hargreaves' Heartfelt (only available from her web site) -- with postage, it will cost almost $50 but I think it has at least 5 or 6 patterns that I want to make, for Ruth, Clare or me, and some of them call for Rowan Big Wool or Cocoon ... or kidsilk :-)

it's raining yarn

hallelujah! the yarn fairy brought two parcels yesterday, probably at the end of his shift -- he waited for my partner to pedal up to our gate so he could hand them to him (the couriers usually come in the morning, leave the parcels on our veranda, and scurry away to keep to their schedule) and another today:

the (150g) Handmaiden Seasilk skeins from Colorsong / Bob and Nancy, who don't charge for shipping, saving me at least US$8.65 :-) -- here are Seashore and Renaissance:

and the SWTC yarns from ecoyarns -- Karaoke (full bag):

and a single Tofutsies:

And Melissa at strandedinoz is ready to ship the alpaca-silk and Nepalese skeins that she dyed (McLaren Vale colourway) for me over the weekend, so these might arrive by Friday:

ah, the luxury of having yarns custom-dyed -- Mel's given me a bit more than 150g of alpaca-silk, to make sure I have enough for Anne Hanson's irtfa'a, and also ensured there's enough Nepalese to make a large shawl (or airy shrug?)

today's harvest was Malabrigo laceweight and worsted from yarnandkisses (in Oz) -- only 6 days between order and delivery -- here are Alpine Pearl and Indigo:

The Alpine Pearl has more green than blue/lavender ... although in photos it looks like a reasonable match for stranding with Indigo, when I'm holding them side by side in my hands, I'm not so sure -- I'll just have to knit a swatch and see.

is this addiction?

there were several things I planned to do today: my long overdue tax return for 2008, the marking scheme for tomorrow's supp exam, lecture notes for this semester, shopping at Myers and/or Readings, making my first batch of ice cream ...

but all I really did was knit Viola, buy some more yarn, update my stash and projects, read and post to forums

I thought a bit about the *process* of doing my tax return, and decided not to go to Myers or Readings (because of the smoke haze from the bushfires), and bought ice cream ingredients instead (and put the ice cream maker container in the freezer) ... but actually making the ice cream will have to wait until tomorrow -- in the meantime, I've cleared some working space on the kitchen table, and put out some mixing bowls and non-perishable ingredients

stash fairy tomorrow?

a number of stash orders should be arriving over the next few days: the seasilk from colorsong, karaoke & tofutsies from ecoyarns, the malabrigo from yarns & kisses; and Mel might email an invoice for the alpaca-silk and Nepalese laceweight; by next week, the Kaalund and Araucania should arrive from yay for yarn

and then I'd better stop buying and just keep on knitting!

Violet Viola

I queued Viola a week before French Girl even arrived but let it drift down the page, as lacier projects rose to the top ... I told myself there was nothing really unique about it, except the yarn, and I had no plans to trek out to Sunspun to buy kidsilk aura, and had nothing of suitable weight in my stash. But I really liked looking at its photo ...
Today I went to Clegs to buy circs and maybe some sock yarn or even some luscious fingering for spiraluscious ... OMG they have kidsilk night, which is discontinued ... and this deep purple kidsilk aura!! But (according to the ravelry pattern page) I need 11 skeins, at $13.95! if I had a stash budget, this would blow it ... but fortunately, I don't budget :-) (actually, the book specifies only 8 balls for the 40" size -- don't know why the ravelry page is so much over-spec)

So now I've swatched on 6.5mm and then again on 6mm, and have scanned the first two pages of instructions, as well as the tutorial pages on top-down set-in sleeves ... despite all the KAL activity, there are only 3 other Viola projects, and only 1 Louisa and, although the pattern page says there are 8 Veronique projects, there are only two with photos -- the other one has only a photo of the yarn, and no start date, yet has been viewed 60+ times (to my 39).

stranded in oz yarns

nearly forgot -- but how could I forget? -- my laceweight handpainted mohair arrived yesterday from stranded in oz, while I was busy exploring the possibility of buying yet more -- this lot perhaps for Anne Hanson's irtfa'a ... some confusion over the number of metres per hank -- will email back to Mel and ask ...

Veronique: provisional cast-ons

I've been a smarty pants: not only did I do the starting PCO on my knitpicks cable (so that I can eventually start knitting the edging by just attaching the right size points), I have used the ends of the same cable to PCO the "wings" of the upper piece:

it means the lower piece is doubled over, but that's good -- less risk of it dragging in spilled coffee or crumbs :-)

it's not stash -- it's my legacy

life is too short to agonise about stash -- I don't go on crash food diets, so why should I go cold-turkey on buying yarn? especially when so many ravellers are producing so many beautiful yarns! as long as I bequeath my stash to someone who will make good use of it, and not just dump it at the op shop ... although I occasionally find some pretty good stuff at op shops ...

not another shawl/scarf?

I was minding my own business, browsing Colorsong's Handmaiden yarns, and saw the Vintage colorway in mini maiden! spent the next long while searching for a suitable pattern, aside from the obvious scarves and shawls. The lacy shrug from Knit 2 Together is a possibility, but no one has used mini maiden for it, and the pattern calls for 730 yds of DK weight yarn. Otherwise, it will be a swallowtail shawl, or Anne's promised pattern for Kris' shawl, or the Victorian lace scarf that uses exactly 1 skein.

falling off the wagon ...

I came across an orgy of drooling over Handmaiden Sea Silk, e.g, for Caricia. There's also a superb Faroese shawl pattern that was specifically designed for 200g of Sea Silk (but it's a posted hardcopy instead of a pdf, and I'm into instant gratification) ... but I must look for other Faroese patterns -- I like the idea of shoulder shaping ... or I can just wait for Anne Hanson to finish her next shawl pattern, which will be (sort of?) a Faroese. Actually, she already published a Faroese, in Nov 2007 -- it requires 1300-1400 yds! but the yarn comes in 226g/1750yd hanks for US$50, plus under-US$10 shipping ... and it's a very pretty pattern! but which colorway(s) to buy???

anyway, I thought I was safe from stash-bloating, when I saw how much One Planet charges for shipping (almost as much as a 100g skein of Sea Silk!) but today came across this forum post about online shops for Sea Silk -- followed a link to Colorsong (after looking at the other sites) ... not only do they have a large amount and variety of 150g Sea Silk (for only US$6 more than 100g skeins), they are offering free shipping, even to Australia! and, as I couldn't decide which I like more, I ordered both Renaissance and Seashore -- I'll probably use one for Caricia and the other for another of Anne's shawls.

oh, and this happened after I bought some SWTC Karaoke (a bag of 10 Loganberry) from ecoyarns (for the Cat Bordhi calla lily bag) and threw in a skein of Tofutsies, just because it was on sale and looked like a good colourway ...

Note: the link to Addicted to Sea Silk group was on angelknit's profile and I got there by following links from completed Silk Corsets -- an Annie Modesitt design -- another one that would look fabulous on Ruth ... 

postal services

My Romi shawl pins arrived today from California -- I ordered them on 29 Jan ... the Rare Yarns Fire skeins have not yet arrived from Adelaide, although they were probably mailed before 29 Jan -- was it the heat? did they send all the postal workers home? did they lose the parcel? how do I make inquiries?

decisions, decisions ...

Hip Knit Hats arrived yesterday -- a lot of good information about designing and knitting hats to suit different types of faces etc, but only a few interesting designs ... the entrelac beret will be fun!

but hats are on hold while I decide which Anne Hanson shawl to start -- the Fearless Fibers Majestic arrived yesterday, too! only 8 days after I ordered it, so I can start swatching for Palimpsest ... or should I start Veronique? or Satine (need to get needles)? actually, Palimpsest calls for 3.75mm, which I might have somewhere, embedded in a hibernating project, or I might need to get some ... bamboo, at the very least, if I can't find rosewood :-) -- although, since the Majestic colourway is rather dark, bamboo might be the better choice anyway.

as to the name, Anne says on her blog:

palimpsest refers to the faint tracings left behind when an image or written page is erased. this stole is inspired by winter architectures in nature—ghosts and skeletons of gardens past (which are really premonitions of gardens yet to come)

which is a lovely thing to think about while knitting this, although it's still high summer now, and Melbourne winters aren't all that bleak, anyway ... maybe I'll save this until July, and take it to NZ to knit while gazing at Lake Tekapo ... (as if! ... sigh)

Anne Hanson does it again!

I bought yet another Anne Hanson design -- her latest, Caricia (also in her store), is stunning! but there seems to be only one source of Handmaiden in Australia, and their web site says nearly everything is out of stock ... nor do they even list the 5-ply cashmere-silk suggested in the pattern. Looking through the yarns available at Sunspun and Southseas, it's not all that easy to find yarn that's 400-450 yards per 100 g -- lots of them are more like 300 yds, and then there are laceweights with 200 yds per 25 g ... Eki Riva has a baby alpaca yarn that's 400 m, which would feel very nice, but the colours aren't very interesting.

Anyway, I've got two cones of cashmere-silk somewhere in my stash: red and cream -- I'm just not sure how many yards are on the cones. There's also a cone of lavender yarn, which might be alpaca ...

Mon 2 Feb 2009: correction -- the red stuff is 150g of pure silk (!) and the lavender yarn is, indeed, alpaca (4 ply superfine, 475g) ... 17 wpi makes it light fingering weight, and very likely 400 yds per 100g -- not as exciting as the Handmaiden, but it's in my stash, and will look almost as nice as it feels.

French Girl Knits!

Kristeen's beautiful book arrived yesterday, only 10 days after Amazon shipped it (the book fairy must be able to find my house in his sleep!) :-) and already several KALs have started to organise, with a few knitters already half-finished! I put my hand up for the Veronique airy shrug, and considered buying more Colinette Parisienne from Sarah, or the Kidsilk Haze suggested by the pattern, then realised I have just the right amount sitting in my stash -- not the colour I was thinking of buying, but it is a colour that I wear, and I did buy it thinking that I would wear it. I'm swatching it, trying out some lace patterns for the lower back: maybe Anne Hanson's vine flower, or the diamond motif from Diamonds & Triangles ... I considered the Myrtle Leaf pattern, but that requires lacework in both directions. The vine flower pattern is much more subtle in laceweight -- I nearly gave up on it, because I thought it wasn't showing up but, after knitting the diamonds above it, the curves became quite visible.

I'm surprised that no KAL has formed for Satine, the first pattern in the book -- it's so pretty, and looks relatively quick and easy to do ... except that I need to go out and buy 8mm and 9mm needles -- I swatched the 12-stitch lace pattern on 10mm and it is too big. I'm hoping that some fuchsia mohair in my stash will be enough (the Sirdar Kid Mohair is from the days before labels specified yardage, and it's not in the ravelry database, which lists 111 yds for the Hayfield Mohair 80) -- I'll frog the back of the Alterknits abstract cardigan that has been hibernating for months, at least partly because I had second+ thoughts about a fuchsia back with the much more sober front.

So I'm making inroads into my stash, which is just as well, since I ordered some Habu laceweight silk this morning, along with the silk and wool stainless steel yarn for Romi's designs.

the less-hot change

can't really call it a "cool" change when the temperature's still 30+ degrees ... it went through Geelong and environs a while ago but hasn't yet reached Melbourne :-(

so I'll stay here in my nice cool office and continue knitting Aurelia's dress -- the skirt is finished and the next round decreases to half the stitches, and onto needles one size smaller ... but my Kollage square circs are all 32" long (the dress bodice is only 20") so I'll try pulling the excess cable out between stitches (Kollage cables are very flexible) but if I get tired of this, I might have to switch to non-square needles ... but then I might need to go down two sizes -- I'd forgotten that Kollage advise using needles one size larger than the pattern suggests, to get gauge.

OTOH there are only a few rows of bodice before the work splits into front and back, and they're only short rows ...

4:35 pm update: here it comes! down to 37 degrees and (hopefully) falling!

a Romi kind of day

the book fairy visited again yesterday, despite the 43-degree heat, and left Rosemary Hill's book -- full of jewelry and scarf projects using techniques that are quite new to me ... I need to source all kinds of interesting new tools and fibres :-) including Habu wool-stainless-steel yarn (!) -- but I'll probably start by making some flower petal earrings for Ruth ... 

Earlier in the day, before I knew the book had arrived, I followed up an email from Romi's Yahoo group, and bought two scarf pins: the one I drooled over before:

plus this other beauty, which will look wonderful nestled in my mauve-hued lacy things (e.g., Chitra's wrap, and the Colinette Parisienne Raphael-colourway lace scarf I started knitting ... some time ago now): 

Vine flower / braided river dress

I started a dress for Aurelia, using Anne Hanson's vine flower dress pattern and repurposing the Paton's Focus on Linen yarn that I bought long ago to make a summer no/short-sleeve top, which I frogged to attempt the simple cardigan in Knitting Experience 2, which has been hibernating while I thought about how to handle the insufficient yarn problem. I still don't know how many metres I've got, as the label has no info except fibre content (not even any gauge or needle info!).

I really should have swatched the lace pattern before starting, to quickly see how the whole pattern would look in this yarn, but I thought I would have to reverse/invert the instructions on WS rows if I did it on straight needles -- it actually would have been quite easy, as every WS row would just be purled (that'll teach me to read the pattern though before starting!)

Luckily, the lace pattern seems to be turning out ok:

I really like this yarn -- such a pity that it was discontinued! In the vine pattern, the mixture of thick and thin, white, grey, aqua and lavender, reminds me of the braided river in NZ -- this outcrop.org photo comes close to my memory of it.

another day, another knitting book

The book fairy came again yesterday (the Australia Post contracters don't knock anymore -- they just leave the parcel on the front porch, unless a signature is required -- my partner has "temporarily" shifted some junk from his workroom to just outside the front door, and the delivery guys have decided this is just the place to leave parcels ... they blend in with the clutter, so I'm never sure how long something's been sitting there, in plain sight yet invisible -- the up-side is that they're also pretty invisible to any opportunists who might be inclined to pinch stuff ... also, I usually go in and out via the side door, so I just have to make a point of checking every so often, or when I hear a van arrive/depart)

so now I have Knit 2 Together which is currently a steal on Amazon at US$5.50 -- it has some great patterns for bags and tops; some of the other patterns are interesting  just to see what Santa Monicans get excited about -- Mel Clark is a Kiwi who, although she's lived in California for 20+ years, bases a lot of her designs on what she grew up with ... and many of these are what my sister Americans are going for :-)

but the stories are the best part of the book! I love knitting (and cooking) books that tell stories! I'm actually only vaguely aware of who Tracy Ullman is, but she writes very well and entertainingly, and certainly contributes a lot to my enjoyment of this book.

at the bottom of the Ravelry page for this book is a link to Mel's Ravelry profile, which links to her blog and web site -- she moved back to NZ in 2007 and has a miraculous online store that's really well set-up to help you find the yarns you need/want -- including Manos del Uruguay non-sock yarns, for which Google found no Australian sellers.

moebius cowl practice

I'm getting a tiny bit bored with my sock knitting (also this one) so I'm gonna do it today -- I have the KnitPicks 40+ inch cable and the 6mm tips aren't being used in any other project, and the Spotlight bamboo/cotton yarn is close enough to 11 wpi -- I'm gonna cast on Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cowl! it will be a practice run -- more like a large swatch (I have only 75m of bamboo/cotton) -- to get used to the technique and lace pattern before I cast on with fancy yarn for the real thing ... although, as the bamboo/cotton is nice and soft ... and purple! I'll probably wear it as a neck warmer.

books!

Book of Yarn arrived today from Amazon -- only two weeks since they shipped it! so Knit 2 Together should arrive soon, then the other 3 in another few weeks ... I think I have too many books and/or not enough time to knit ... but I still want Sally Melville's new book, which might become available sooner than the official publication date -- French Girl Knits isn't due out until 1 Feb but they shipped it yesterday.

Book of Yarn has pretty pictures but also quite a lot of information that merits close reading, followed by careful study and consideration of my stash -- hopefully this will help me decide what to make with it ...

Odd that the book has a Moebius shawl pattern that doesn't use the method made popular by Cat Bordhi's books -- it creates the twist the "wrong" way, by twisting the cast-on stitches before joining -- sure enough, the project photos show that it has a full twist, i.e., it's not a Moebius strip at all. (I couldn't find the web pages I read before about this but found this awesome page by a mathematician who gives 3 different methods for knitting Moebius bands.)

The book does contain a pattern by Cat Bordhi -- a very elegant felted bag shaped like a calla lily, which might be just the thing to start me felting -- it looks like something I would fall in love with all over again, every time I looked at it.

break's over, back on your heads!

I go back to work tomorrow, such as it is ... I've been keeping an eye on email activity and it seems most people are still away, although that hasn't stopped the people who are working from sending out numerous notifications of deadlines -- I should have chosen my sessional staff by last Friday, and my supp exam paper is due this Wednesday ...

And I still haven't prepared the documents to send to my tax agent, for my 2007-8 tax return!

what I have been doing is spending a lot of time on Ravelry :-) -- friending people (esp people in Australia, esp in Melbourne), joining groups from their group lists, adding patterns to my queue (trawled through 23 pages of Drop Designs -- only 73 to go, but I was finding fewer and fewer patterns of interest, so maybe I'll just wait for them to finish translating this season's patterns), and adding projects -- need to get the photo from jh of pokemon modelling Aurelia's capelet and hat ... I actually kept myself awake last night, thinking about the finished and unfinished projects that I could/should add! I posted something about Sally Melville's new book but noticed this morning that the other postings about this are in the "my website" thread. I answered a couple of questions -- one about the not-knit-round shawl and another about psso. And I PMed Emma, asking to buy her 2 skeins of Rare Yarns Fire -- could be just the thing to make the Drop house slippers -- I remember how nice it was to work with this yarn when I made Clare's Einstein Coat. Not that I really need more yarn ... I poked around in my stash drawer and cupboard, wondering where various balls of yarn have gone, and re-discovering yarn that I'd forgotten about ... which is why I really need to get them listed in Ravelry -- then I can try to start matching them with queued patterns, and make a shopping list of [types of] yarns that I should look for -- and not just keep buying a bit (or a lot!) of this and that, on impulse!

Note: many people who post in the forums use ETA in a way that's sort of, but not quite, like BTW -- will need to find the right place to ask what this means ...

more ravelry

• finally noticed the rss field in my profile -- copied in the link from this blog: still no posts :-( -- turns out I had to hit Enter after copying the link in
• noticed that other people's photos are on flickr ... have to figure out how to set this up as part of an efficient workflow ...
• looked up maylene (the name I'd originally tried): she's been a member since Oct 2007, hasn't been knitting all that long but has done some wonderful things, including a shrug designed by Ashley Adams Moncrief for Knitty (this is going into my queue!)
• followed the link to see Ashley's other designs and found Cherie Amour, which I promptly sent to Ruth -- she would look amazing in this! -- then discovered a ravelry group (which I've joined) dedicated to people who are knitting this design: women of all shapes and sizes seem to love this design! 

interesting idea

knit rings! being sold by finkifibre (in Melbourne) on Etsy for (US?)$4 -- these look a bit bulky ... I could use some leftover Tofutsies (on 2.25 mm needles?) to make my own

pretty picture

This was today's Van Gogh painting in my sidebar -- it could be inspiration for a knitting project someday ...

etsy

I've been seeing references to "etsy" so finally looked it up: Etsy is an online community where anyone can sell handmade things. It's been around since June 2005 and has more than 100,000 sellers, mostly in the US, UK and Australia, some/many of whom are able to make a living from their etsy store.

Shawl pins

ooh ah! lovely elegant shawl pins at Designs by Romi! especially this penannular swirl (page 4), which comes in nickel, copper and sterling silver:

and this bay laurel leaf (page 5, nickel or copper):

"The stick portion is attached to the pin and slides around to lock" so it can't fall out and you can't lose it -- so clever!

Romi (Rosemary Hill) has a blog but it has no rss feed ... and several patterns at knitty.com. I've ordered her book from Amazon (didn't know about using the link from Ravelry -- next time!)

Moebius knitting

I set out to find the definitive word(s) on knitting in the round on two circular needles -- I like andrade's page best -- and was lured onwards to Cat Bordhi's Moebius books and patterns. Fortunately it's been long enough since she invented the technique that you can find out how to do it without buying her books: there are videos, including her own, and casting on instructions are included in the downloadable pattern for the cowl scarf she demonstrated on Knitty Gritty. There's a good photo at Yarn-a-Go-Go that shows the stitch pattern quite clearly.

As it happens, I have a very long circular knitting cable in my KnitPicks case, so I can start on one of these ... as soon as I decide which yarn to use

Ravelry!

I received my invitation to Ravelry today and promptly joined ... it felt like "coming home" -- the site is full of the tools that knitters need to keep track of all their projects, books, stash etc, and is also a community where you can see what others are creating, and show them what you're doing. 

I set up my library (most of my books are in the Ravelry database) -- it's so nice to see their covers displayed on my infinitely large virtual bookshelves! -- and clicking on a book displays photos/links of what other members have created from patterns in that book (Round Trip from Jackets and the Einstein coat from Knitting 1 are obvious favourites). I need to get photos of the yoke cape and hat that I made for Aurelia, and also post photos of the coats and jackets that I've finished making for myself.

You can also BYO blog to Ravelry, so I've set up this one, just so I can link it to my Ravelry account [a couple of days later now: odd -- when I try to read my blog in Ravelry, it says it's not reading it, and have I added it to my profile ... well, yes I have ... does it require human intervention to activate it within Ravelry?]